Archive for the ‘News’ Category

I am pleased to announce the availability of “Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove, Vol. 1”, a compilation of live recordings from our inaugural show at the Purple Bee Halloween Hoedown on 10/27/2012 and Antone’s on 1/30/2013.  You can download the album from iTunes right now, and the physical CD should be available tomorrow on Amazon.  Twang an’ Groove Vol. 1 is released by There Records, the same organization that brought you Reggaebilly, and it was mixed & mastered by Mike Morgan at The Zone Recording Studio (Mike is also the bass player in Twang an’ Groove, for those who don’t know.)

I got an opportunity to play with Peter and the band again last Wednesday at the Old Settlers Music Festival pre-party, and it was an amazing experience as always.  Over the past 18 months, Peter has evolved into a beast of an electric player, with the chops necessary to drive the straight-ahead power trio that is the new incarnation of Twang an’ Groove.  The concept of Twang an’ Groove has always been basically about reading Peter’s mind, about him starting off in a particular direction and the band following along, so it took us a dozen shows spread out over a period of 9 months before we could really get a sense of where he was going.  If you saw us last Wednesday, you saw a band that was a lot tighter– but also less experimental– than the band that was out standing in our field in the freezing cold on Halloween weekend, 2012.

What you’ll hear on Vol. 1 is the much more raw form of Twang an’ Groove, a band that was still throwing things against the wall to see what would stick.  As with most experimental projects, not all of the experiments were a success, but when they were, they were sheer brilliance.  Vol. 1 tells the story of a bluegrass legend who, at age 70, after having played acoustic guitar and mandolin most of his life, picked up the electric guitar and hired an Austin-based jam/country band (Rhythmic Statues) to back him up (in fact, that first gig was still billed as “Peter Rowan and Rhythmic Statues.”  The name “Twang an’ Groove” didn’t exist yet.)  Vol. 1 is basically every form of roots music America has to offer thrown into a blender with Peter’s finger on the “purée” button.  The sound is undeniably Peter Rowan but still completely different from anything that any of us have ever done before.

Either way, though– jam band or rock band– it’s a brilliant and ridiculously fun band to play with.  I’m proud to have had the opportunity to participate in the project, and I hope there will be a Volume 2.

Yeah, you read right.  Free.  Crazy, huh?  “Seven Cities” was always intended to be a loss leader and a vehicle for building my fan base rather than a cash cow, and now that I’ve actually paid off the production costs, I’ve decided to take a page from Jonathan Coulton’s playbook and release all of the tracks from the album under a Creative Commons license.

What does this mean for you, my friends and fans?  For starters, you can now download my album for “any price you deem appropriate” — including $0 — from my BandCamp store.  Any money received goes toward helping me continue to make music without starving.

Next, it means that you are free to– and I encourage you to– spread this album far and wide.  Share the link above on Facebook or Twitter.  Send the tracks to friends or family who might enjoy them.  Put them on mix tapes.  Use them in YouTube videos.  Remix them.  Remaster them.  Mash them up.  The only restrictions are:

• Thou shalt give credit where credit is due (i.e. always include my name and a link to drcommander.com whenever you share or use my songs)
• Thou shalt let people know if you modified the songs in some way (i.e. add “remix” to the title or whatnot)
• Thou shalt not use the songs for commercial (i.e. money-making) purposes

Some further musings regarding why I did this can be read here. Basically, blame Woody Guthrie.

Really, though, I have nothing to lose at this point.  After 8 months of trying to sell and promote my album, including thousands upon thousands of spins on streaming radio, ad buys, you name it … I have made about $100 and spent a lot more than that.  I have had very little success in using the album as a promotional vehicle to book solo gigs.  It is simply not finding its audience.  Art is a form of communication, and thus art without an audience is like a tree falling in the woods.  Whether or not it makes a sound is kind of irrelevant if there is no one there to hear it.  Artists are natural self-doubters, which makes it particularly hard when we, as indie artists, also have to be shameless self-promoters.  When our art doesn’t “hit” the way we expect, our natural impulse is to press the reset button and try again.  In the case of “Seven Cities”, it was a gamble to come out of the gate with a concept album, particularly in a market that is not very receptive to bandless singer/songwriters.  So I understand why it’s not selling well, and from a business point of view, I would rather not throw good money after bad.  From an artistic point of view, however, even though I know that I have a better album in me, I can still be proud of what I’ve done and believe in the concept and believe that there is an audience for it somewhere.  Who knows?  Maybe it’ll be huge in Japan.  Thus, I’m switching from a pinpoint laser approach to a scatter bomb approach, in hopes that by letting the music run wild, it will eventually find its way into the ears of new fans.  Meanwhile, I’ll be finishing up writing songs for my next project and financing it via sideman gigs.  I hope to get started on my sophomore album in earnest this year.

In short, please pirate my album.  I would consider it a big favor.

December Shows

In the interest of not burying the lead, I’ll be performing a solo “acoustic” show next Sunday, Dec. 15 at Stompin’ Grounds Coffee & Cocktail Lounge at 3801 S. Congress (below the lofts across the street from Expose’.)  The Studio E Song Class will open at 6 PM with their acoustic renditions of “songs that should not be done acoustically” (I will probably accompany them on a couple of those), then I do an hour set at 7:30, featuring songs from “Seven Cities” and my next album (working title: “Songs What I Done Writ But Ain’t Yet Sung Into a Can”), with some covers thrown in for flava.

Also next weekend (Sat. Dec. 14 at 11:30 PM), I’ll be playing keys and singing backup with Ulrich Ellison & Tribe for Ulrich’s birthday show & single release party at One-2-One Bar at 1509 S. Lamar.  Ulrich is a native of Austria, and his new album is steeped in 70’s and 80’s prog. rock.  It has given me an opportunity to exercise my synth chops, which I don’t often get to do around here.  Some of his original stuff will remind you of Pink Floyd, Sting, Moody Blues, even Manheim Steamroller, but he’s also prone to launch into some blazing Texas blues with little provocation.  FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/666410780046948

The following weekend (Sat. Dec. 21 at 7 PM), I’ll be playing with Robin Wiley at Milt’s Pit BBQ in Kyle.  Robin and I do a Captain & Tenille sort of duo, with her singing and me doing keys and backing vocals (Captain & Tenille currently outrank us, but I’m long overdue for a promotion.)  We had a great show down in Corpus last month at Chat’s Drive-in and did a short concert and interview on KCCT radio with “Daddy D”.  Robin’s original material is both folk and R&B-oriented and includes a lost Guthrie song that apparently no one else has ever recorded.

You can add any of my upcoming shows to your Google or iCal calendars by going to this page and clicking on the + sign next to the show.  I’ve got a lot more stuff coming up in the first part of 2014.

Twang an’ Groove News

For those who weren’t following our tourettes with Peter Rowan this past summer (Telluride in June and North Carolina in July) on Facebook, links to my photos are available here.

Telluride was perhaps the most amazing musical experience I’ve ever had.  First time to attend the festival, much less perform there.  Got to hobnob with a who’s who of the bluegrass/jamgrass scene, not to mention hang out in one of the most beautiful places in the world (with free food and 4-star lodging, no less.)  We did two encores at Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, and the audience still almost wouldn’t let us get off the stage.  Other highlights:  Lake Street Dive; Milk Carton Kids; String Cheese; Jackson Browne (!); Hot Rize/Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers; and the Telluride “house band” that consisted of Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Bryan Sutton, and Edgar Meyer with special guests Jackson Browne, Peter Rowan, half of the Punch Bros., etc. etc.

The First Annual Crystal Coast Music Festival in North Carolina almost got rained out, but the skies cleared in time for our show, and although the rain had driven a lot of people away, it was still a good crowd and a great show.  Keep an eye on this festival, because they apparently have 5 years of funding secured, so they are likely to grow and may end up being the North Carolina version of Old Settlers.  We got the rare opportunity to perform with Yungchen Llamo, a Tibetan mountain singer, at both the Crystal Coast festival and at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.

Peter has been off performing with Yungchen and others since then, but at least according to the Old Settlers web site, Twang an’ Groove is on the bill for 2014.  We haven’t yet received confirmation of that, so I’ll keep you posted.

Videos

A lyric video for “Dead to the World” is now available here.  Enjoy!

Some actual music videos are also in the works, including “Hill Country Rain” and “The American Dream.”  My friend Tony is producing the latter, and it should be amazing.  Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified the second that these are available.

Social Media & Stuff

I rail against Spotify frequently, but if it’s going to exist, then I might as well take advantage of it.  If you’re on there, then please visit my official Spotify profile (type “spotify:user:drcommander” into the search box) and follow me.  I am curating some playlists that bear some relevance to my music career, both past and present.

Have a José Feliciano Navidad!
DRC

CD’s are now for sale on CD Baby:

https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/drcommander

For those who bought the MP3 version, you can download the full-sized CD artwork by clicking on one of the following images:

Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove Update

Playing Old Settlers was an absolute blast, and thanks a bunch to everyone who came out to see one or both of our shows on Saturday.  Audience response was amazing.  Here’s a video of our noon show, shot by Ted Branson from KOOP radio 91.7:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZryjUmbyo3M

We’re getting amped up to play Telluride in about 6 weeks, and we’ve announced several dates in North Carolina in July, including the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh and the Crystal Coast Music Festival over in Morehead City.  More info on these is on my gig calendar.

Free Stuff!

In the world of DRC’s solo music, you can now download “Dead to the World” for free from my ReverbNation page in exchange for signing up for my e-mail list.  If you’re already on my e-mail list, just click “Download” under the song, then click “I’m already a fan”, and where it says “I’m on the mailing list”, enter your e-mail address and click “Submit”.  Bada bing.  Free song.

Please share this song with anyone who you think might like it.

CD’s

CD’s are on the way and should be here early next week.  My BandCamp store lets you name your price on “Seven Cities”, and all proceeds at the moment go toward paying off the 4-figure production debt.  🙂  If you pay $10 or more, or if you already paid that amount through BandCamp, then I’ll make sure you get a CD if you want one.  So don’t delay– buy today.  You can pay either with PayPal or a credit card (you don’t have to create a PayPal account.)  If you’ve bought the record via iTunes or another outlet, then I thank you heartily for your support.  I won’t know for probably a few weeks how those sales are doing, because reporting from the major online stores has a significant delay.

Spread the word!

The album is now officially available “everywhere” online, including most streaming sites.   If you know someone who might like my music, please take a moment to tell them about it.

More good stuff in the works.  Stay tuned!

I am pleased to announce that you can now listen to the entire “Seven Cities” album, read the liner notes and lyric sheets, and purchase the whole thing (or individual tracks) at:

https://drcommander.bandcamp.com/album/seven-cities

The MP3s have embedded lyrics that will display on your iPhone or other players that can read MP3 lyrics.  Pretty cool.

The album is also available on iTunes and Google Play (search for “d. r. commander”) and should be on Amazon and every other major online store within the next few days.  A limited number of CD’s will be available within the next couple of weeks (I still have to finish doing the back and inside cover artwork for those.)

If you prefer to cut out the middle man, I will also have download cards available at Old Settlers.

If you enjoy the album, please also consider sharing the link with others you think might enjoy it.

Hope to see you at the Old Settlers pre-party tonight and the festival this weekend!

Lots of big news, so I guess I’ll just go in chronological order:

“Seven Cities” Digital Release

This coming Wednesday, it’s the day you’ve all been waiting for … or, at least, I hope you’ve all been waiting for it … the digital release of “Seven Cities.”  As we speak, I am in the process of pushing it out to digital distributors and setting up the BandCamp.com page for direct sales.  I had the pleasure of working with Nick Landis of Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc. last week to master the record.  I told him that I was looking for a sound reminiscent of an album that was produced in the 70’s but transferred to digital in the late 80’s/early 90’s (pre-“loudness wars”), and not only did he know exactly how to achieve that, but it turns out that he can issue official dynamic range certifications from the Pleasurize Music Foundation (http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/).  “Seven Cities” received a rating of DR12, which gives it a similar level of dynamic range to some of my favorite late 80’s/early 90’s classic rock CD’s.

I will provide more details on Tuesday or Wednesday regarding the album release.  Stay tuned.

Old Settlers Pre-Party

This coming Wednesday (4/17), I’ll be playing a free show at Camp Ben McCullough (across from the Salt Lick on F. M. 1826 near Driftwood, TX, about 15 minutes south of Austin) with Rhythmic Statues.  RS is a project conceived by Mike Morgan and featuring most of the members of Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove band (including Carter Arrington on guitar, Mike on bass, and me on keys), but it centers around Mike’s songwriting.  For this show, we’ll have Jenny Mier and Andy Markoff from Flounders Without Eyes as special guests, and we’ll be doing some of the songs that Mike wrote for Flounders, in addition to some new Rhythmic Statues material and some covers of old favorites.  I’ll be playing keys and helping out on backing vocals.  We may also have a couple of other special guests joining us.

Bring a lawn chair, munchies, and BYOB.  Admission is free.

Lineup:

5:30 Tom Vickers
6:15 Chris Baker
7:00 Bob Slaughter
8:00 Three Hands High
9:00 Rhythmic Statues
10:30 Jabarvy

Old Settlers Music Festival

Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be doing two shows on Saturday, a matinee at 12:05 PM on the Hill Country Stage and an evening show at 9:30 PM on the Bluebonnet Stage.  Also performing on Saturday will be Jerry Douglas, Leftover Salmon, The Gourds, Martin Sexton, and Bob Schneider.  Friday’s lineup includes Terri Hendrix, The Del McCoury Band, Michael Franti, and Fred Eaglesmith.  Camping is currently sold out, but 1-day tickets and 3-day wristbands (without camping) are still available at http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/tickets/.

Telluride!

Yes, indeed.  The good news is that Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be performing at the 40th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Friday, June 21.  It will be my first time to ever attend the festival, and I’m super stoked to get the chance not only to play but to see some of my idols, including Jackson Browne and Béla Fleck, from the VIP section.

The festival is completely sold out, as is our show at Fly Me to the Saloon in Telluride on Thurs., June 20, but if they’re doing live streaming, I will be sure to send out the link.

North Carolina

For you Blue Ridge folks, we’ll be coming your direction in July.  Currently, the band is not even 100% sure where the festival is, but I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I find out.

It’s hard to know where to start without burying the lead, so I guess I’ll just flip a coin.  🙂

As some of you know, Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be performing at SxSW this year.  We finally got the deets, and here they are:  we’re going to be at the KCA Artists Showcase (official showcase — wristband required) at The Stage on Sixth (508 E. Sixth, Austin, TX 78701.)  The showcase is on Thursday night (3/14), and check out the lineup:

9 PM:  Rodney Crowell
10 PM:  Ray Rylie Hubbard
11 PM:  The Black Lillies
12 AM:  Billy Joe Shaver
1 AM:  Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove

No pressure, right?

In other news, I am pleased (thrilled, ecstatic, relieved, Dance of Joy, etc.) to announce that, after nearly 4 years and well into the 4 digits’ worth of hours spent futzing with Logic and Pro Tools, production of “Seven Cities” has finally wrapped.  It’s been a long ride, full of big doubts and bigger lessons and many sleepness nights, but I’m proud of how it turned out.  I want to thank all of you for your support, and I especially want to thank those who lent their various talents to the project.  I’ll be going into The Zone Recording Studio after SxSW so Pat “Goldenear” Manske can work his magic mixing and mastering it, and the current plan is to release on or about April 15, to coincide with Old Settler’s.

Speaking of Old Settler’s, PRTG will be performing on Saturday evening (4/20.)  Get your tickets here:  http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/tickets/.  We’ve also got a couple of big festivals lined up for summer in various scenic locales, so stay tuned!

I am pleased (read: thrilled, ecstatic, relieved, doing Dance of Joy … Opa!) to announce that, after nearly 4 years and well over 1000 hours of work (maybe even 1500– I lost count) on my part, production of “Seven Cities” has finally wrapped. It’s been a long ride, full of big doubts and bigger lessons and many sleepness nights. It may not win any awards, but I’m proud of how it turned out. I want to thank all of you for your support, and I especially want to thank those who lent their various talents to the project.

Next steps:
1. Final mix
2. Master
3. ???
4. Profit!

Release is tentatively scheduled for 4/15, the week of Old Settler’s.

It was a beautiful spring weekend in the Hill Country, a little more than 10 years ago.  The grass was emerald, Onion Creek was clear and gushing (remember when that used to happen?), the sun was shining, and I was attending and camping at a multi-day music festival for the first time in my life and wondering to myself why I had wasted so much time in Houston before finally moving to the Hill Country.  I was really there to see my idol Bruce Hornsby, but I also decided to check out several acts that, I’m embarrassed to say, I had never heard of at the time:  Grammy-award-winning bluegrass artist Peter Rowan, Grammy nominee Michelle Shocked, and veteran Austin roots rock/R&B/jam band Flounders Without Eyes.  I left that festival being life-long fans of all of them.  And of course, the festival I’m referring to is none other than Old Settler’s, the first year it was held at the Salt Lick.

Flash forward 10 years, and I’ve now been fortunate enough to have played with all three of the above artists and recorded a live album with one of them.  My first time playing with Peter Rowan was with Flounders Without Eyes last May at the now-defunct Jovita’s.  The first thing I posted on Facebook after getting home from that gig was:  “there’s a reason why Peter Rowan is a living legend.”  I don’t know that I’ve really had very many, if any, transcendent musical experiences before that, but that show was definitely one.  This past Halloween down in Lockhart at the Purple Bee Halloween Hoedown, Mike Morgan put together a new backing band for Peter consisting of legendary drummer (just watch this) Jamie Oldaker, jazz guitarist Carter Arrington, Mike on bass, and me on keys.  Not only was this even more of a transcendent musical experience, but it was probably the most actual fun I’ve had on a stage in my entire life.  It doesn’t even feel like work when you are so in tune with what everyone else is doing that the music just flows naturally out of you and you don’t even have to think about where it’s going next or what role you have in it.

Well, apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought that that show was really something special, because I am pleased to announce that Peter has decided to bring us all on as his band, under the name Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove.  This will be the first rock & roll band Peter has played in since he was 14.

Jamie is an absolute beast of a drummer, and he and Mike lock in a groove tighter than probably any rhythm section I’ve ever played with.  Jamie was one of the inventors of the “Tulsa sound” that Eric Clapton co-opted for his solo career, so sometimes he’ll start grooving on something that sounds like, for instance, “Lay Down Sally”, and I’ll have this sudden flash of insight that, oh yeah, the reason “Lay Down Sally” sounds that way is because of him!

Mike’s primary instrument is bass, but he has also played rhythm guitar with Flounders Without Eyes since 1997, as well as penned dozens of songs for that band and produced all but one of their albums.  His studio, The Zone, has also recorded the likes of Robert Earl Keen, The Flatlanders, Eli Young Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Butch Hancock– not to mention a little jazz fusion combo I was in called The Harmony Theory.   Mike has been producing, performing, and writing since 1968, and his credits include playing/recording with Allen Ginsburg and Peter Orlovsky, as well as a prolific songwriting collaboration with Arthur Brown.

Carter formerly played with Larry (a band with whom The Harmony Theory shared a stage several times, and incidentally a band that also played that first Old Settler’s I attended) and is a now a guitarist’s guitarist, backing up a who’s who of well-known Austin artists.  He produces a lush, rich sound that calls to mind Knopfler or J.J. Cale, and like those two guitar gods, he wields his power sparingly, but when he wields it, you had better hold onto your face.

(And, of course, you probably know all about the keyboard player by now.)

Our inaugural show will be at Antone’s on Wed, January 30:

Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/404513362964904/

Tickets ($17 in advance):

http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/eventV2/195997?wrKey=B4CF4C8DF18257B5FFE4C407EEB92D78

Doors at 8, show at 9

We are also booked at Old Settler’s, 4/19-4/20 (time TBD):

http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/

Expect more announcements soon!

Hope you can make it out on the 30th to help us kick off the new band in style.  It is certain to be like nothing you have ever heard before.  It is definitely like nothing I’ve ever played before– or rather, it’s like a combination of everything I’ve ever played before, multiplied by 1000.  Peter describes it as “where Rhythm and Blues meets Reggae at an all-day Bluegrass pickin’ party”, so if you don’t like the genre we’re playing, then wait five minutes.  It’ll change.